


Dream a little dream

by PoisonJack



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, General au, Multi, Polyamory, post-Institute-splosion ha, that good comforting shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 19:06:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisonJack/pseuds/PoisonJack
Summary: Nora's got those bad dreams, but luckily she's got good men to help keep them away.Request fill from my tumblr:Would you be willing to do some fluff? Like, Nick, Sole Survivor, and Hancock together while trying to comfort SS after they have nightmares? Thanks for your time. :-)





	Dream a little dream

**Author's Note:**

> I've been listening to a _lot_ of Doris Day lately so shoot me xD Still accepting prompts/angst meme starters. Check my tumblr :)

“ _Fuck!”_ Nora shot up from bed, heart racing, pulse pounding as she looked about with wild eyes, still caught up in the horror of dream-space as she didn’t immediately recognize where she was.

“Hey, _hey now,_ easy. You’re safe, sunshine. You’re _safe.”_

Nora was abnormally alert, eyes wide in pinpointing the voice as she spotted Hancock getting up from the ratty plush chair he’d been sitting in. Coat and hat gone in favor of simple white shirt and pants, he'd been enjoying a cigarette he snubbed out as he made his way over to her. She was breathing hard, a look in her eyes that said she was ready to bolt any second as he slowly approached like one would a wild animal. The days previous had not been kind, and to say he hadn't expected something like this would be an understatement.

She knew where she was. She recognized it after taking a few deep breaths, the familiar scents grounding her more than anything else at that moment. Old dust. Cigarettes. Warmth. She was in the Statehouse in Goodneighbor, in the large bed she’d fallen into oftentimes in exhaustion, Hancock there and waiting for her to rejoin the waking world. This time was no different. 

She was _safe._ Nothing could reach her here. _She was safe._

The warm rays of a setting sun cast the room in an ethereal golden glow that didn’t lend to breaking the spell her nightmares had cast. The bed dipped as Hancock sat gingerly next to her, a warm hand on her thigh as he gently murmured to her. She could feel her heartbeat leveling out somewhat, though it still spiked with anxiety.

She was _safe._

“...John?”

He was already moving to hold her; an arm around her shoulder as she leaned heavily into him. She was shaking as he held her, and he rubbed tight circles into her back through the shirt she wore. It was moist with sweat. A hell of a way to wake up. “You have a nightmare, sweetheart?”

Her fingers dug into his shirt, holding tight in lingering fear as she nodded. _Nightmare_ didn’t even come close. She pressed herself harder into his chest until she could feel the beating of his heart in her own. Here. _Alive._ He was alive and well, his voice murmuring sweet words reverberating into her own chest.

It helped. 

“...where’s Nick?”

“Just downstairs talking with Fahrenheit.” He gave her another tight squeeze and kissed the top of her head as he comforted her. She was still trembling. Must’ve been a hell of a nightmare indeed. “Want me to get him?” She nodded into his shirt, but didn’t let him go. He gave her another kiss to the temple. “You’re gonna have to let me go, dollface.”

“ _John-_ ” Her voice was a croak, breaking on his name as she felt tears come to her eyes. Fear of a new kind threatened to swallow her whole, that something might _happen_ \-- that her dream wasn't over- and for a moment she thought she'd do _anything_ to keep him by her side.

Nick’s easy footfalls could be heard coming up the stairs, and a few moments later he entered the room with a brow raised in question and concern. Not what he’d expected to see when he'd heard their voices drift on down, but not for the obvious reasons. “Glad to see you’re finally awake…” Nick said mostly to himself as he approached the pair. Nora looked up at him sharply, meeting his eyes in a mixture of terror and relief. Whatever was going on, it wasn't of the _fun_ variety. “Everything... okay?”

She was still shaking off the nightmare as she somewhat gaped at him. One where raiders had gotten Hancock with his shotgun in her pre-war house, the nice, clean carpet spattered in red as he laid there with fatal wounds. Nick’s face had been covered in blood as they’d shot him where he’d been on the couch, the older man sprawled out with his gun in hand, useless against the onslaught as she stood a powerless observer to her life being destroyed. The bombs had gone off again. Nate didn’t make it into the vault with Shaun, and she could feel the heat--

She shuddered, a sob escaping as she gave Nick an anguished sort of look, reaching out towards him with one arm. The dream didn’t make any _logical_ sense, of course, but it didn’t have to to shake her to her core. The old synth immediately took up with the pair, at an awkward angle as she pulled him to her as soon as he was within arm’s reach. 

“She had a nightmare,” Hancock’s gruff tones informed, wrapping one of his arms around the other man’s back to better support the weird position they were all in. Nick offered him a grateful nod as Nora grabbed at him. “Doozy of a thing.”

“That so…” Nick maneuvered her until he could sit somewhat more soundly upon the bed. By that time she had both arms around him and was burying her face into his chest with controlled sobs she was trying to bring down. He pet her hair and gave Hancock a questioning look, but the other man was just as clueless as him, a commiserating hand on the older man’s shoulder. He looked down at her. “You wanna talk about it, love?”

“No…” she said unsteadily, groping for Hancock until she had arms around both of them. She was still reeling. Couldn't shake the feeling of the dream even with the pair of them in her arms proper. She still wasn't properly awake. “Just… just hold me.”

Hancock got himself untangled from the pair so they could resituate themselves, but Nora’s grabby hands wouldn't leave him alone. “Let me move, babe,” he chuckled lightly as she was reluctant to let him go from her touch. He kissed her hand as he moved to the other side of the bed so he and Valentine properly flanked her. She gripped his hand a little too hard even for his comfort. “I’m right here, sunshine. It's all good.”

They boxed her in between them, low murmurs of reassurance, words of gratitude that she was finally awake, and moreover that she was _safe_ with them. Her breathing was still fast, but her trembling had more or less stopped. She held them both with purpose.

“...I don’t wanna go back in…”

Valentine and Hancock shared a look between them. 

“In where, Nor?”

She felt his hand at her back, fingers kneading as if he could suss out what she meant. She squeezed them both that much harder in dread, voice muffled in Nick’s shirt front. If she just held onto them hard enough, they wouldn't have to go. _She_ wouldn't have to go. “...the Institute…”

“Nora, you sure you’re feeling alright?” Nick asked as he pulled back to look at her. She met his amber eyes, her own wide and a little addled. “We blew it sky high, honey. Remember? Three days back,” he elaborated at the look of confusion on her face. 

“It was a nightmare, gorgeous. Just a nightmare,” Hancock reassured once more, petting her again. “All done. No one’s going back in there. There's nothing to get back in _to.”_

“...I…”

“You’ve been sleeping for a long time, doll. A nice big sleep will do that sometimes,” Nick told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead and holding her. “It would be weirder _not_ to have a few bad dreams for how long you've been asleep.”

“I can give ya something for that,” Hancock suggested with a half-serious smirk, trying to lighten her mood.

“No, no,” she told them, taking a deep, calming breath. She just needed to wake up a little bit more. Shake off the lingering fear and exhaustion in her system. She was safe between them. They’d all been holed up in Hancock’s own Statehouse after the whole ordeal, resting and recuperating after the biggest battle the commonwealth had seen in ages.

That was right. They’d blown the Institute to kingdom come. It was all done. No more atomic bombs. No more death from above. The days of nuclear blasts were far behind her. Her makeshift family was safe. It was a dream. Just a damn dream trying to reconcile everything, past and present. But it wasn’t her reality.

“Will you… Can we lay together a little while?” Her eyes sought both of theirs, begging them to stay with her. 

There were still things to be done, of course. Nick was running interference for Diamond City; reassurances that things were _done._ Crazy Myrna could stop with the paranoia. Kidnappings would be a thing of the past. Diamond City could _cool it_ with the hostilities now. 

Hancock had to deal with a rise in community _interest_ in things that had gone down; the Institute was gone and synths weren’t the enemy, and Goodneighbor was _still_ by and for the people. There were nervous rumors he'd had to quash-- that Institute remnants would infiltrate the town to get revenge. Stupid shit really, considering how utterly destroyed the Institute had been. But it was still work that needed to be done to keep tensions low, and the mayor had his work cut out for him.

But for just a little while, only a little, Nora wanted them to herself; for her own peace of mind.

“You got it,” Hancock said, removing himself only to fluff up the pillows to something more comfortable before he settled in.

Nick stood to remove his coat and hat from the errands he'd run, long shirt and pants a mite bit more comfortable to hold her with. 

She got into the middle before they were on either side of her, and she didn’t even have to pull their arms around her before both were embracing her; Hancock at her back, Nick at her front. She looped a hand into the collar of Nick’s shirt; the other she entwined fingers with Hancock’s arm slung over her.

“Better, doll?”

“Yeah…” she said with relief. And it was. A lot better. Their warmth and solidness keeping her penned in. _Safe._ Her dreams were just that: dreams. Both men were alive and well beside her. Nothing could take them from her. And listening to their gently-murmuring voices as they discussed things giving them grief put her more at ease than she was willing to admit.

She was drifting a little before she jolted back alert, scared to sleep again, though firm hands and confident words comforted her once more.

“Easy. You can rest up, love,” Nick reassured her, passing half a cigarette to Hancock. When he’d even lit one, she didn’t know, but it was mostly gone already. Must have actually dozed off long enough for them to smoke in companionable silence.

“We’ll be right here,” Hancock promised, taking a puff before blowing the smoke towards the ceiling. “Ain’t that right, Nicky?”

“That’s a fact.”

Nora hummed to herself as she allowed herself to relax again, their presence and touches helping greatly. The comforting hand at her hip, and the other rubbing circles into her back sent her back into a restful sleep. When she next woke up, the room was dark, but they were both still there beside her, watching over her dreams. 

It was okay. She was safe. Everything was done and accounted for, and all she had to fight were the ghosts of her past. That might have troubled her before, but with her men at her side, she knew she didn’t have anything to worry about.

She cuddled into both, gentle touches and reassuring murmurs making her hum, and she succumbed to restful, peaceful sleep the remainder of the night.

**Author's Note:**

> If you read and enjoyed this (or furthermore, requested it) please leave a comment? (: Someone is obviously filling this ship tag so there _must_ be an audience, right? 
> 
> Or i can just _not_ post work haha
> 
> [my fallout tumblr](http://CommonwealthBankofMacCready.tumblr.com/) | [my fic archive masterlist](https://commonwealthbankofmaccready.tumblr.com/post/172184061939/poisonjack-ao3-fic-archive)


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